Black Death
by koikattt
Summary: The diary of Delilah Hunter while she lives through, The Plague!
1. entry 1 & 2

Dear Kitty,

Today I woke up to screams from downstairs. Since I live above "The Sinking Rat Tavern" I thought little of it and tried to get back to sleep. When another scream pierced the air I had to go see what the fuss was about. I looked down the stairs and saw people gathered around a shape on the ground. It was covered in tattered rags and slowly pulsing. Weak rasping noises were coming from within the cloth,"Water_-" _I could just barely make out the word. So simple but such desire put into the phrase. A misshapen hand covered in red ringed and bruised pustules reached for the people surrounding it. Instead of helping the person the people in the tavern shrank away from the outstretched hand. Then a person walked up and handed it a mug of water. The tavern people looked at the stranger like they were insane, which I later learned they were. The person, a woman, looked into all of their faces and gave them an odd smile.

"All of you who didn't help this dying man are going to die. You sat and watched him suffer, but soon he will be you, this is our fate." As she walked out the door ,the man hobbling beside her, I saw a red ring on her neck and then they were gone. At that I ran back to my room and shut the door. I promised myself I wouldn't open it to anyone who had been downstairs with those two people. There was something wrong with them. I looked out my window to see if I could glimpse them farther along the street. I spotted them with a wide berth between them and any other people. Anyone who passed gave them a sidelong glance but kept walking. To keep myself busy I counted all of the people they came into contact with then tried to count all the people that came into contact with them. I lost count after 50 and they went around a corner. I had a horrible feeling in my gut that something was about to happen, something big and I was just a small part. I stole down to the cellar and grabbed all the food I could carry up to my room. I live here alone and usually help in the tavern, no one would notice me taking food. I was slowly rationing out a potato when I heard a knock at the door. My breath caught in my throat and I almost screamed. I waited, the knock came again, but louder.I shoved the food under my unmade covers and held my breath. I slowly got up and stood in front of the door, I could feel the other persons presence behind it.

"Hello? Who is it?" I choked out the words.

"Delilah? It's me, Jake." a muffled voice came through the door. I sighed and opened the door but when I saw him he looked worried."You've been in here all day, are you all right? A lot of people have been unable to come to work because they're sickly." He looked at me checking to see if I looked red.

"I'm fine, what about you?" Jake and I have been friends almost all our lives and we're like brother and sister. He did look a bit flushed."you look flushed" I said still not getting near him. But I saw no ring on his neck, no rasping voice, I feel so paranoid. Am I just taking safety precautions that make me seem more insane then those two people?

"I ran up here to find you, I have to talk to you." He said the last part blandly, no emotion just the unmoving determination of a rock. He knew I would talk to him even if I didn't want to."You know what's going on don't you?" He said once I closed the door behind him and sat on the bed, accidentally squishing my potato. He mistook the look of disgust on my face from the white mush under me for a maybe, which was true but I could have said it."Why haven't you told me?" He said awkwardly like he might not want to be told but he wasn't going to say it."Can you tell me?" He had that air about him that meant I should speak now.

"Yes." I didn't know if he really wanted to know or if he had dug a hole to deep to get out of."Well, I have this feeling that something big is about to happen. You know that feeling when your in the ocean and a huge wave is coming but it hasn't arrived and the ocean is sucking at you? well I have that type of feeling but on a gigantic scale! Ever since that women and man left the tavern this morning that sucking feelings been getting stronger and stronger. You know what she said? I think it's true. We're all gunna be like him." Jake laughed, but not a full on laugh, the kind of laugh where you hope the other person is joking. He looked at me with wild eyes, I could see him start to panic. Panic never presented itself as an option to me it was always either prepare yourself or die. The potato was slowly soaking through my covers towards me. Once one of my preparations now just a discomfort. I looked at him uncomfortably,"I could be wrong..." I said doubtfully.

He looked at the wood ceiling and said,"No I think your right."

* * *

Dear Kitty,

I haven't left my room in six whole days. Jake might think I'm crazy or he's locked up in his own room. I've only left once to get more supplies and a few more potatoes(not a good food to hide under my covers) Every time I look out of my window the streets seem to be getting more and more barren. I can feel the wave coming and it won't be small or gentle. I'm afraid- I'm terrified of what's happening out there. Even though I can only glimpse a little bit of the outside world through my window I can tell there's no law and I'm better in a smelly room then out there alone. Some of the things I here at night... I would rather not write them down because I'd rather not remember but I know they'll haunt me in my dreams and when I'm awake. All the days have turned into a gray blur. Pretty much all I do is ration out my food and look out the window. The smells from outside are getting steadily worse so I prefer to keep it closed. Sometimes I smell fires and hear people crying, I don't know why they cry but I know that it's something horrible. But that's n easy guess to make almost everything that goes on now is something horrible. Just two days ago I saw a man in the road crying for water and I had no way to give him any without being exposed. They're calling it the plague. Some say god is punishing us, No one knows but I don't believe in god kitty, I think things can be explained rationally. Apparently the bodies are piling up, they're having to burn them. I just hope none of them are Jake. The screams have been getting louder and more filled with grief than pain. Sometimes I think of just walking out into the street and giving into the mass hysteria of the outside....


	2. entry 3 & 4

Dear kitty,

I woke up in the middle of the night last night to the sound of laughter. _Laughter!_ I looked out of my window and saw people walking down the street laughing and drinking. They were dancing together and having fun. For a moment I almost joined them thinking the plague was over. But i could smell the tinge of death in the air. I sat there watching them walk down the street just for a while pretending everything was how it used to be. I would complain about all the work to be done and Jake would help me. But my treacherous brain wouldn't let me forget, not even for this moment about the horrors going on. They laughter and singing were beginning to fade away into the thick air and let in the wails from the present. I felt like my ears were plugged with cotton after the loud joy of the parade. But now I was left in the quiet despair that seemed to never end. I haven't thought about Jake for five whole days, I guess I didn't want to worry about something I can't do anything about. My last entry was four days ago and much has changed. Every few days a man walks around the streets with a cart calling,"Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!" I try not to look at the people piled one on top of the other inside of it. In case I see a familiar face, which I know is very likely. Some of my food is already going bad but I'm so terrified of leaving the room that i can't go down to the cellars to get more, It's probably going bad down there too. We're cut off, from the world i mean. We aren't getting the goods we used to get and so we're running out of food. I almost worked up the courage to go out the door or at least open it, but I could only stand there remembering the time I had opened it to see Jake. It seemed like years ago now but it had only been about two weeks. I think I will sleep now, I've been doing a lot of that lately just sleeping.

* * *

Dear kitty,

I wrote in here just yesterday but this is important. The house next to me was on _fire_! I could hear people screaming from within but the people outside were just standing there smiling like they thought they had done well. Some were praying while holding lit torches to parts that were not yet burning. I screamed at them,"What are you doing, there are people inside!" through my window now agape.

Some looked up at me with insanely happy smiles on their red faces,"The people inside have the disease miss. We are only thinking of our families." One said in a perfectly sane voice, but these people were not sane. Sane people don't burn down houses. Some children were playing near the burning building. "ring around the rosie, Pocket full of posie, Ashes, Ashes, we all fall down." they were giggling and dancing around while singing the chant. It disgusted me. Now where there used to be a building there is only ashes and the echos of screams. That horrible little chant keeps on playing itself through my head. I find myself singing it aloud,"Ring around the rosie, Pocket full of Posie, Ashes, Ashes......"

* * *

Dear kitty,

I only wrote in here two days ago but this story should be told. I woke up this morning to bangs from downstairs. I live above the tavern, but then I remembered the epidemic. No one should be here but me. I wanted to wait until they left but I knew they would take my food then leave. So I went to my door. I stared at the wood panels that made up the door. I had to open it, but I couldn't. I reached out my hand and grabbed the bolt that kept me inside. That was a nice way to think of it kept me in, not kept everything else out. My stomach growled with hunger. I had run out of food yesterday so another reason to open the door. But while I was up here reasoning with myself that person was stealing my only key to survival. I grasped the bolt and flung the door open so fast it took a second for my brain to catch up. I was exposed, I was dead. But if I stayed up here I would starve, I was dead. So it was either try and maybe die, or not try and definitely die. I moved towards the stairs slowly listening to the intruder. They weren't bothering to be quiet, they probably thought anyone here was either dead or dying of the disease, I should have thought more of that. I crept slowly down the stairs fearing they might hear me, it sounded like more than one person. Maybe two or three. I sneaked a look into the kitchen and saw three people two women and a man digging through the food still in the cupboards. I saw one of their hands, it had the pustules of the disease! how had they gotten in? I still don't know. But I ran to the door and tried to open it. But it was boarded up from the outside. Through the planks of wood I saw red paint soaking through in the shape of a cross. "no,no.." I pushed all my weight against it but the door didn't budge. I ran up the stairs to my room, and smelled something. I smelled burning wood and heard a lot of people coming towards the tavern. I knew they wouldn't help me. So I walked slowly up to my room and sat on my bed. Some would have screamed for help but that wouldn't help this had become a sick house right under my nose. Outside I could hear the children begin to play and sing,"Ring around the rosie, Pocket full of posie.."

"Ashes, Ashes, We all fall down.." I sang under my breath. So here I sit singing children's songs and waiting for the fire to burn away my pain.


End file.
